The
Southern Lapwing ranges throughout South America except on the
Pacific coast from Peru northwards and in parts of
Amazonia.

It
is found in open areas near water and marshes and is frequently
seen near habitation and on farmland. Some farmers use them as
guards as they are very aggressive and give out a loud call when
disturbed.

In places such as Brazil this
loud call gives rise to local names such as
"Quero-quero".

The plumage is very distinctive and there
are minor variations of the facial markings which distinguish the
4 subspecies. Photos 1 to 6 are V. c.
lampronotus which is the subspecies found in Brazil south of
the River Amazon. Photos 7 and 8 are of the nominate subspecies
found in central Chile south to Chiloe and in Argentina while
photo 9 is of the sub-species V. c. fretensis found in
Patagonia.

The
second photo shows a Southern Lapwing standing over a
well-camouflaged egg in a shallow scrape nest. The clutch size is
normally 3 or 4 so maybe this bird had just started to
lay.

The
Southern Lapwing has red spurs at the bend of the wing which are
displayed to rivals and enemies as part of the show of
aggression. These can be seen well in the fourth photo which
shows the first part of an extraordinary display. This group of 4
birds advanced rapidly calling loudly with their spurs showing on
a single bird who was presumably trying to invade their
(co-operative?) breeding territory.

They
suddenly stopped and adopted a bowing position as shown in the
fifth photo. I assume that this is also an aggressive stance. The
bird who was the object of their attention flew off about 50
metres followed by this band of four and the whole performance
was repeated.